all right. here's a warning the for you. this is a new york man that found this curled up on the toilet seat. it is a three-foot long corn snake known as the red rat snake. look at that thing. eerie pale yellow and think it came through the plumbing. >> up through the plumbing, up through the toilet, wrapped itself around the toilet seat. that's in the plumbing today. >> it's a myth returned. >> kyra phillips, you give me heck about dental floss in the toilet. >> big pipes. really big pipes. >> that's what comes up out of the toilet. >> so glad i live in atlanta, georgia. >> this is new york city. >> you know what happens? floss and then grows into a big snake. hello! can't you figure that out. have a great day, guys. >> there are alligators in the new york city sewer system and get through through the toilet. take it away. good morning, everybody. we have a lot of ground to

cover. imagine a guy sends you a text inviting you to an autopsy. all right. that's creepy enough but that text allegedly from a district attorney to a crime victim was just the tip of the iceberg. we have the govern nor of wisconsin live. and another scandal for the vatican and nothing to do with sex but everything to do with money. maybe your house wouldn't have gone into foreclosure if the lender had checked the paper work first. i'm kyra phillips s and you're live in the cnn newsroom. bishop eddie long leads one of the largest churches in the country but today accused of betraying the trust of those that follow him. two men filed lawsuits claiming he coerced them into sexual relationships when they were teenagers. he is a national known minister and the claims are shocking in contrast to the public image. he crusade against homosexual y homosexuality. the success as a pastor is

undeniable. two decades after taking over a small church, the followers number 25,000. spokesperson for eddie long denies the allegations but it's sending shock waves through the empire. ed lavandera is here with a closer look. shocked not only the empire but so many people of faith. >> well, no. the reach of eddie long for those of you that don't know much about him, you can't deny it. internationally renowned minister. sells books. author of ten books. he's got a spiritual empire he's developed so we're talking about a very influential person and to get you a sense, we have been hearing this morning from a spokesperson for eddie long who has harsh words to say about the two men accusing him of sexual abuse. listen to what he told cnn just a little while ago. >> this is actually, john, a case of retaliation and a shakedown for money by men with some serious credibility issues who are trying to mount their own defense. this is something that went from 48 hours from contact with the

attorney claiming outrageous demands to the dog and pony show that we began yesterday. >> all right. so we're hearing the words of shakedown and retaliation and gives you an idea of how intense the battle is going to be. let's listen to more of the background of the two men accusing bishop eddie long of. >> angels were flying around my bed. all night. all day. >> reporter: bishop eddie long's fiery sermons made him a revered evangelical minister. >> eddie long offers himself up as this kind of man's man. he's a quintessential man. he is a successful businessman. he's a successful preacher. he has a beautiful family. he's a successful family man. he drives a fancy car. he wears custom-tailored clothes and some argue that he is the man all woman want and all men

aspire to be. >> reporter: in separate lawsuits, two young men say bishop long used his spiritual authority to coerce and manipulate them into destructive sexual relationships. 20-year-old maurice robinson and 21-year-old anthony flag say they met eddie long through the bishop's longfellow youth academy. >> he would use biblical stories to talk about how important it was to follow your leader and master. and let him know that the acts that he was engaged in were not necessarily meaning that he was a homosexual. >> reporter: the spokesman tells cnn he adamantly denies the allegations, the young men allege long made them his spiritual sons in a private ceremony called a covenant. >> within that covenant, it was essentially a marriage ceremony where there was a candles, exchange of jewelry. and biblical quotes given in order for anthony to know and

for the bishop to tell him i will always have your back and you will always have mine. >> in the name of jesus. >> reporter: he built a spiritual empire by sheer force of personality. new birth church had 300 members some 20 years ago. today, it has more than 25,000 members. when coretta scott king died, her funeral was held in his church. as the prestige has grown, so has his conservative voice in social politics. he once led an anti-gay marriage march through atlanta. >> we are not marching against folk. we are marching for folk. and if they don't understand it now they'll understand it better as the old preacher says by and by. >> reporter: bishop eddie long often refers to himself as god's scarred leader, those that followed the career say bishop long never shied away from talking about his own personal

struggles and faults. that's made him even bigger than life to his spiritual flock. >> and there's one other intriguing twist to this. back this summer in june two men were arrested for breaking into bishop eddie long's office at the church. stay toll according to the police report that we have seen $100,000 in jewelry and an ipad. ma rus robinson was arrested in that case and one of the men accuses bishop long of these lawsuits so that's why you hear the attorneys there talking about their credibility issues, retaliati retaliation, shakedown and going after money and suggesting they're doing now with the lawsuits. in the lawsuit, the attorneys for maurice robinson say that this was -- he was finding out that other men were involved with eddie long and his way of lashing out at the bishop trying to take away what he thought was most important to the bishop, material possessions so that's kind of an intriguing twist to where this plays out at this

point. hard to say. that's what we know. >> that stands out, $100,000 worth of jewelry in the church. that's a little odd, as well. >> in the office. >> yeah. strange. all right, talking more about this. pretty shocking to a number of people, internationally. >> no question. >> ed, thanks so much. we'll at the bottom of the hour hear from the attorney representing the accusers. b.j. bernstein is pulling no punches in the lawsuits against the bishop. she'll join us live at 9:30. the owner of an iowa egg farms to apologize to the victims of a salmonella outbreak. jack decosterson peter will appear. they have a copy of the testimony. peter decoster says while we believed we were doing the right thing we must do more saying that he prays every day for the victims of thatutbrk. e owner of hillsdale farm and recalled eggs will testify

today, too. congressional repeal of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy is dead. at least for now. there was a filibuster against the bill with the repeal and the dream act that would give immigrants bought to the u.s. as children permanent residency spending time in college or the military. republican john mccain said tacking on the amendment to a defense spending bill was a cynical act for political reasons. senate candidate and tea party star christine o'donnell is speaking out after side stepping questions about bills that she paid with campaign cash. she sat down with sean hannity of fox news. she says this was her last national tv interview. she also tried to clear the air about the days that she dabbled in witchcraft. >> bill maher. a friend of yours, obviously. did a show a lot. >> unfortunately. >> he comes up with this tape.

1999? you made an appearance. >> yes. >> talking about a boyfriend when you were a teenager? >> right, right, right. >> saying you had dabbled in witchcraft. why don't you explain for people that maybe -- what was that about? >> yeah. well, teenager rebellion. some people dabble in drugs to rebel. that's how i rebelled. >> all the talk of doing this national show, that national show. >> no. it doesn't -- it's off the table because that's not going to help me get votes. i instead want to go to as many town hall forums and church pick micks to fit into the schedule to meet the voters. >> trying to get answers from christine o'donnell every chance we can but so far she hasn't said much to us. >> miss o'donnell, one question you promised to answer. >> i did. >> no. the rentals last year. >> sorry. tonight. >> not happening. >> that was the one question i had. >> i answered it.

>> no, you didn't answer it. >> would you be able to talk about the specific question on the $20,000? >> congratulations. >> no truth to it. i'll release a statement. i'll release a statement. no truth to it, though, i assure you, brian. >> heard of the democratic challenger chris coons last night and weighed in on whether witchcraft is relevant in the race. >> i really don't think so. i think it's up to the voters from delaware to decide when they go into the booth six weeks from now which of the many things they heard about my opponent and me relevant when they make a decision. that is job interview and what i have heard over nine months is what folks want to know is what experience do you have? what ideas do you have to get us back on track and to get the economy fixed. >> coons has also been forced to answer questions about hispast. he has to come out and deny allegations of conservative bloggers that he is a marxist based on a paper written in

1985. you can watch them face off in a 90-minute debate on october 13th. wolf blitzer will help host that event. don't miss it. that's wednesday, october 13th right here on cnn. another member of president obama's economic team is leaving. top economic adviser larry summers will step down at the end of the year and return to teach at harvard. white house officials say he stayed a longer than originally planned an enbecomes the third economic team member to leave since july. cnn opinion research poll shows americans are hurting. 8 in 10 say economic conditions are poor and 6 in 10 disapprove of the pay president obama is handling the economy. a district attorney in wisconsin won't quit. after a string of women have been coming forward saying he sent them sleazy text messages. one of them to an abuse victim. another, just looking for legal help. wisconsin's governor joins us live. [ female announcer ] when you have a softer bath tissue, you can enjoy going more... while still using less.

introducing new charmin ultra soft. new charmin ultra soft has an ultra-cushiony design that's soft and more absorbent. so you can use four times less versus the leading value brand. [ both ] ♪ soft to the touch... [ female announcer ] using less never felt so good. new charmin ultra soft. enjoy the go. words alone aren't enough. my job is to listen to the needs and frustrations of the shrimpers and fishermen, hotel or restaurant workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. bp has taken full responsibility for the clean up in the gulf and that includes keeping you informed. our job is to listen and find ways to help. that means working with communities. restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund to cover lost income until people impacted

can get back to work. and our efforts aren't coming at tax-payer expense. i know people are wondering-- now that the well is capped, is bp gonna meet its commitments? i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right. i but i justve my 5 employcan't afford it.ance, i have diabetes. i didn't miss a premium payment for 10 years. and i'm worried if i lose my job, i won't be able to afford insurance. when i graduated from college, i lost my health insurance. the minute i got sick, i lost my insurance. not anymore. not anymore. not anymore. america's healthcare reforms change lives for the better. to find out how it can help you, visit us at americasfairhealthcare.org it's not just fair, it's the law. and while it can never be fully answered, it helps to have a financial partner like northern trust.

by gaining a keen understanding of your financial needs, we're able to tailor a plan using a full suite... of sophisticated investment strategies and solutions. so whatever's around the corner can be faced with confidence. ♪ northern trust. look ahead with us at northerntrust.com. three women share say their cell phones buzzed with dirty messages of the wisconsin district attorney, admitting to texting an abuse victim but he's still refusing to step down.

the newest woman to step forward now is a law student. >> not only is he picking on women, but he's picking on women in vulnerable positions. such as, domestic abuse or people coming up from the criminal system trying to break that cycle and become better who have to reach out for his support. >> but it was his first accuser that really grabbed our attention. a domestic abuse victim, kratz handling the choking case and called the woman a young, hot nymph among things. now the second woman claims he invited her to an autopsy provided she wear heels and a skirt. the d.a. denies that. you just heard from the third woman saying she was looking for help to pardon an old drug charge saying he texted her about pleasinging her between the sheets. no comment from the d.a. on that

one he did apologize to the first woman earlier this week. >> my behavior was inappropriate. i'm embarrassed an ashamed for the choices i made and the fault was mine alone. after considering my selfishness and my arrogance, in contacting this young woman, i immediately engaged in the individual psychotherapy to address these issues. >> now, wisconsin's governor jim doyle wants to get the d.a. ken kratz fired and joins me live from madison. he said he refuses to resign so what's it going to take on your behalf to handle this? >> there is a process in wisconsin by which the governor can remove a district attorney for misconduct or malfeasance. step one is a verified complaint of a taxpayer and i know that we

will have that today. step two is i appoint a commissioner to look into those allegations and to give the district attorney a chance to tell his side of the story. and step three is i make a decision on whether the conduct warrants his removal from office. i'm a former district attorney myself. i'm the three-term attorney general of wisconsin. i have spent a lot of my career working with domestic violence victims and so obviously what's happened here is extremely shocking and troubling to me. i want to make sure that any woman, any victim of a crime particularly a domestic violence or sexual assault or child abuse can come into a police department or a prosecutor's office in wisconsin and be treated with the respect and dignity to which that victim is entitled and so obviously i'm very concerned and i have said that immediately upon the receipt of that verified complaint which, again, i'm quite confident will come in today, that we will -- i will

move for his -- start the proceedings that move towards his removal and hope that this can be done in 30 days or so. >> governor,next 30 days, all right. as you mentioned, you were also a d.a. state attorney general. why do you think kratz thought he could get away with this? >> you know, you'd have to open up his mind and look in to see it. he acknowledges those texts. and anybody who reads them if you saw his original statements on those texts were that they weren't sexual in nature and while maybe inappropriate they weren't beyond -- over any line and i think anybody reading that would see that and the allegation that is have come out since including the law student who i ought to mention what really troubles me about this is this is the governor's pardon power. she was seeking a pardon for a relatively minor drug offense. i weigh very heavily what a district attorney's recommendation is deciding to

give a pardon and a district attorney has a great deal 0 say. here's a young woman, going to law school and trying to get ahead and has the approval or disapproval of that flix would have a lot to say about whether or not a pardon would be granted. i have granted a pardon. i didn't know the facts until just yesterday. but again, that's one that strikes at the very heart of the governor's powers in the state of wisconsin. >> do you think that there are more victims of this d.a. out there? do you think -- have you gotten anymore phone calls or letters or testimony from other women? >> we have had a number of other contacts. and of course, we are following up on all of those. i noticed that today there's a media report that the attorney for the first woman that this was reported on has -- was contacted by another domestic abuse victim who was making a similar allegation. of course, we are very interested to see that. the other concern that i have

here is i didn't learn about this and most of all of wisconsin didn't learn about this until wednesday of last week when it was broke in the media. this all happened last october. and it concerns me a great deal about why this happened last october and -- >> nobody told you about it. >> he continued to operate as a district attorney. >> yeah. it's appalling. absolutely appalling. governor, you're doing something to get this guy ousted because if, indeed, there are more victims throughout and everything that happened so far is 100% true, he does not deserve in any way, shape or form to be in the position he is in. governor doyle, appreciate your time today. >> thank you, kyra. >> you bet. bob woodward's new book talks about the white house and we have excerpts and administration reaction. boss: and now i'll turn it over to the gecko.

gecko: ah, t, as we all know, geico has been saving people money on rv, camper and trailer insurance... ...as well as motorcycle insurance... gecko: oh...sorry, technical difficulties. boss: uh...what about this? gecko: what's this one do? gecko: um...maybe that one. ♪ dance music boss: ok, let's keep rolling. we're on motorcycle insurance. vo: take fifteen minutes to see how much you can save on motorcycle, rv, and camper insurance.

the war inside the white house over the war in afghanistan, it's all spelled 0 nut a new book called "obama's wars." excerpts released overnight describe deep divisions within the administration. a close aide richard holbrooke apparently saying the plans to end the afghanistan war can't work. ed henry live now at the white house. the administration is now

responding to the book. >> reporter: they're pushing back, kyra. i have a dwoet from a senior official of the administration saying there's not a lot new here and being blown out of proportion telling me, quote, the president comes across in the review as a commander in chief when's analytical, strategic and divisive with a broad view of his role. adding that the debates in the book are well-known. we have known for months now there's deep division within the administration and this official says that the book when you look at it in the full confection shows the president reviewing the central questions of how to cripple al qaeda and the president shown in the book going into great depth, going through the intelligence reports of the battlefield himself to make sure they get the policy right. that may all be true in the full context but the idea that there's nothing new here seems like a bit of a stretch because when you go through what you

mentioned, the allegation that holbrooke told the president the policy won't work. he is a senior adviser. that's significant if true. also, the fact that there's a quote attributed to the president saying in private he wanted an exit strategy out of afghanistan and said, quote, i can't lose the whole democratic party. a suggestion at least in this book, a claim that the president was basing the idea of beginning the withdrawal of troops from afghanistan in the summer of 2011 on the notion that liberals in the democratic party pressuring him to have sort of exit strategy so this is bottom line something the white house prefers not to be talking about right now. the president has a big event later this afternoon on health care reform. they want to be talking about economy, jobs. about six weeks before the midterms. division within this white house over afghan policy is not what they want to talk about. >> the book wasn't a big surprise but the timing couldn't have been worse. >> reporter: yeah. i mean, because, you know, look.

they have known for months bob woodward was writing this book. he has a strong track record and mostly considered accurate and not made up with wild allegations of someone meticulous and the president interviewed with him, other senior officials and cooperated at least with parts of the book but you are right in terms of timing. the president going to new york city today for the u.n. general assembly. he doesn't want to talk about afghanistan right now, kyra. >> ed henry from the white house, thanks. the pastor of a mega church facing allegations of sexual misconduct from two men saying bishop long betrayed their trust. their attorney up next. on the long journey h of t to their feeding grounds. one of the most important things you can do is help the next generation.

at pacific life, we offer financial solutions to accomplish just that. ask a financial professional about pacific life. the power to help you succeed. i really didn't see it coming. i didn't realize i was drifting into the other lane. [ kim ] i was literally falling asleep at the wheel. it got my attention, telling me that i wasn't paying attention. i had no idea the guy in front of me had stopped short. but my car did. my car did. thankfully, my mercedes did. [ male announcer ] a world you can't predict... demands a car you can trust. the e-class. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial. ♪

well, the banking industry

is in hot water again. pushed through paper work on foreclosures but did they check the facts to see the homeowners were in default? al son kosik at the new york stock exchange, what happened? >> seems they signed the foreclosure papers without checking the facts first and some didn't verify the information in those documents and the documents i'm talking about contain information on the mortgage, how much is owed, who owns it, that kind of thing. also, the bank is supposed the sign papers in front of a notary and in some cases the notary wasn't even around. allied bank which used to be known as gmac admits this happened and report that is a single jp morgan chase employee did the same thing. we have reached out the them. no comment yet from them. kyra? >> so, how does this happen? i mean, where's the oversight or the court supervision? >> of course, that's a really good question and some states don't require them to go to

court. the bank really just has to sign off on the papers and speeds things along. allied bank saying that the internal process modified to stop this from happening again and also suspended evictions and repossessions on homes that are still in the process of foreclosure and may have been affected. stocks right now they have opened lower. tech shares under pressure after adobe systems issued a cautious forecast. the dow industrials down about 8 and the nasdaq off about 8. keeping an eye on the numbers and story about foreclosures. back to you. >> thanks. recession has been over for more than a year. we learned that this week according to the panel that charts the dips and peaks. if you have lost your house, lost your job or lost your savings, that declaration probably isn't very comfortable. we want the know what comes next. that brings us to this morning's "a.m. extra." john roberts, you talked with

robert reich. he did have ideas on how to move forward some would say very controversial. >> yeah. always something interesting to say, dramatic and controversial as you say. he had a new book out called "aftershock." he is predicting that the economic recovery if you want to call it that is very anemic because there's a fundamental imbalance in the economy. according to him, too much money that's in the system is going to too few people at the very top of the food chain. and he wants to completely restructure the taxation system so that people that made the least amount of money get a supplement to the income, income earners in the upper tax bracket would have their marginal tax rate increased at the federal level to 55%. currently 36%. there's an argument being made by many economists that you cannot close the budget gap just off the backs of the rich.

that even if you were to tax them at a much higher rate they have ways of deferring income in some cases so that the tax revenue wouldn't there in way. here's what he said in response to that question. >> the rich can defer taxes and part of the problem. last year, the 25 top hedge fund managers in this country earned on average $1 billion each. and a lot of them paid about 17% in taxes. they're paying at a tax rate because of, you know, deferrals and capital gains loopholes. a tax rate that somebody earning $30,000 a year and goes to the current debate of whether you exthe end the bush tax cuts to the top or not. or to the 98%. i would say, yes, extend them to 98% of the top do not spend nearly the same percentage of their income as average working people. and therefore, if you give them

a big tax break, they're not going to turn around and spend it and create jobs. and also, by giving them a big tax break, and extending the bush tax cut for them for another year or two, you give them a huge winfall. one year for the top 2% means $36 billion. and that blows a hole in the budget. >> is this income redistribution? >> well, the principle is according to robert reich that the rich have so much money it is impossible to spend it all and not coming back into the economy and the solution is you tax the rich at a much higher level and we begin with, you know, at $160,000 a year, you pay 40% in taxes. up to that maximum marginal rate of 55% and you take that money and you give it to people in the lower income scales so that they have more disposable income in which to put back into the economy. he uses the words distribution

throughout the book but this morning when kiran asked him, he said it is not redistribution. you make up your own mind. wants to take money from the rich an give it to lower income people. in many books, that is redistribution. >> and he says it is not controversial. >> no. >> this book's going to sell. that's definitely the case. thanks, john. >> that's the goal. >> yeah. >> all right. well, this next story is about the leader of one of the largest churches in the country. this morning, bishop eddie long is accused of betraying the trust of those who follow him. two men have filed lawsuits claiming that he coerced them into sexual relationships when they were teenagers. long is a nationally known minister and the claims are in shocking contrast to his public image. he passionately crusade against homosexuality. long's success as a pastor is undeniable. two decades after taking over a small church, the followers

number 25,000 a. spokesperson for eddie long denies the allegations and spoke to john roberts last hour on "american morning." >> this is actually a case of retaliation and a shakedown for money by men with some serious credibility issues who are trying to mount their own defense. this is something that went from 48 thundershowers of contact with the attorney to claiming outrageous demands to the dog and pony show that we are seeing that began yesterday. >> the attorney filing the lawsuits is also pulling in punches. b.j. bernstein represents the two men that accused long of sexual misconduct. go ahead and react to what franklin said. we haven't had a chance to talk to him. he says it is a shakedown for money. civil suit. about retaliation and appalled at what's happening. >> absolutely not. i mean, first of all, the issue here is it had to be brought out to the public so that this stops. and these two young men, it is

incredibly difficult for young men to claim that they have had any sort of contact with another man. much less their pastor. this is bringing them scorn and ridicule as you're already hearing from the church. >> why now? are why they coming out now? >> number of things, one of the young men and we put it in the lawsuit. we are not hiding this. it is in the lawsuit. he broke into the church because if you ask any expert that dealing with especially young people who have been exploited and sexual aly abused, there is incredible anger and says in the lawsuit, in may of this year his best friend died, he had gone to the bishop for counseling and solace because, again, he had known him since he was 14 years old and the bishop then made a move on him. and that created a frenzy inside of him. it awoken him to how far this man didn't care about him and just was using him. >> and that's what art franklin is saying is that he broke in to

the church, he is going to discredit maurice robinson and anthony flag, he was not involved in the break-in and all about retaliation because they attempted to break in and steal jewelry. >> right. and this is the thing. he broke in to the place in the church where some of these sexual acts occurred. he got the jewelry which is black diamonds, jewelry that's estimated by the church at over $100,000. and because of the idea that that jewelry meant more to that bishop, a man who drives a bentley, has private jets, flies all over the world. flew these kids, this one young man maurice robinson, flew him to new zealand, new york, dallas. the pea body hotel. las vegas. you do not fly around young people. i mean, this goes back to if we recall with michael jackson of why do you share a bed with a child? why do you have these things? why do you fly them all around?

>> you may hear odd behavior like flying them around and sharing a bed but where's the proof that there was any sexual abuse? you say there's e-mails, there's texts? what do they say? what concrete evidence do you have besides the he said/he said. >> absolutely. what they say is really strong, first of all. i worked with sexual abuse victims. i was a prosecutor number a number of years. >> tell me what was so strong and what they told you that really stood out to you. >> the emotion. the intensity. the -- very strong description of what sexual acts occurred. the progression of it. this covenant ceremony which was like a wedding ceremony with anthony flag. i mean, this is not just someone giving a vague thing, oh, yeah, one time he did this or a couple times. >> what is the ceremony, marriage ceremony? some way of bishop long saying

you are now under me? or i am your -- we're married and i'm in charge of you? explain that to me. >> it was an exchange of jewelry and reading -- the bishop reads biblical scripture to them and talks to him about how i have your back and you have mine. that is young man with no father in his life that at 14 years old he -- his family moved -- both of the families moved to georgia to be in this church and he immediately reaches out and finds out their innermost details. i want a father. nothing more than a father. i will be your father, son. you can tell me everything. >> how did the sexual abuse happened? sounds like mentorship. >> they were groomed for it. this is part of thegaalons as well. from 14 to 1 years old, the age of consent for sexual consent, it's 16 years old. from 14 -- he gets to know them and gets the trust and then bit

by first it's a we're sitting and watching a football game and put your legs up on their lap and can you -- one of the boys described going to the gym. can you massage my neck? and then there's another massage. and it just slowly breaks down. ask any victim of sexual abuse, it is a progression. it doesn't start out at one thing and then gets to the point of most serious allegations of this lawsuit. >> so what happened? what clicked? what was the -- why are they coming forward now? >> some of the boys started talking and there are other people out there spoken to me and vetting their experience and it is -- yesterday in my office, these two young men with their mothers sat in my office, one of them weeping with fear and concern and reading the complaint one more time. i said, you are going to be

crucified for what you're saying. there are people that love this man. just like any other abuse victim and they just said, we have to do it. and they know there are others. >> but is there any way to prove that sexual contact actually happened? >> you know what? there is because of this. every case in america, every child molestation case is one person's word against another and when you hear it and we're not going to have them on tv. i've told everybody. we're not trotting them out on tv. what i'm going to do is raeady o put them under oath and they can question the young men and i'll get to question the bishop and then we'll really see what's going on. an enthat coupled with the excessive number of phone calls. i'm going to be able subpoena -- this man on the phone with them all the time. supposedly the bishop. being the bishop for 33,000 members of a church. he knows presidents. he knows famous people. he is out prost he tizing the

word and time to e-mail the kids all the time? i have the private e-mail addresses. i'm getting the phone records. i have the passports. i am getting where they checked in the hotels. we are going to subpoena the black amex cards used by the church's money to pay for these things. i have the w-2s. and then we'll have some other things, as well. that will be given to counsel. >> we'll follow the case. thanks so much. >> thanks. finally, a scandalous story about the catholic church with nothing to do with priests and sex abuse. this one has to do with the giant vatican bank and $30 million that some think might have been laundered. what i wouldn't do for a do-over. [ female announcer ] neutrogena® clinical skincare, exclusive ion2 complex combined with activating cream helps restore collagen depleted skin. neutrogena clinical skincare is clinically tested to undo the look of a year's worth of skin aging in just 4 weeks.

do-overs do exist. [ female announcer ] clinical skincare. neutrogena. #1 dermatologist recommended brand.

0 to 60? or 60 to 0? [ tires screech ] the quarter-mile, or a quarter-century? is performance about the joy of driving? or the importance... of surviving? to us, performance is not about doing one thing well. it is about doing everything well. because in the end... everything matters. the best or nothing. that is what drives us. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers on the c-class. aveeno hair shines in real life. new aveeno nourish plus shine with active naturals wheat smooths damaged cuticles for 75% more shine in one use. real shine, for real life. yours. [ female ann i'm ahmed mady and i'm a homebuilder. my father brought me up to give back to society... felicia jackson promised her late sister that she would take care of her children.

but she needed help. i used my american express open card to get half a million points to buy building materials to help build the jackson family a new home. well, i know if my dad was still around, he would have told me, with no doubt... he would have told me it's a no brainer and i knew that from the start. it was an honor. booming is moving forward by giving back.

let's get straight to cnn deputy director of politics paul steinhauser. when's crossing? >> big campaign cash, kyra. the president up in new york city for official business and fund raising. we know that the president teams up with house speaker nancy pelosi and leader harry reid. campaign cash so crucial as the midterms close in. i learned and check this out on cnn political ticker. vice president joe biden also into the cash mode today in boston for a fund-raiser today with senator lincoln of arkansas. hey, that's senate race -- governor race in new york state interesting. a brand-new poll suggests that the republican nominee in new york that pulled the upset paladino, a developer backed by the tea party, only six points

down to cuomo. that race looks closer according to to a new quinnipiac poll. tomorrow the six-month since president obama shined into law the health care bill. today, two hours from right now he is talking about the new health care bill. is it helping or hurting the party as the midterms close in? check this national poll. and we asked, which party do you think will do a better job on health care? you can see right there americans appear to be divided and health care may not be the plus for democrats they thought it was earlier this year. back to you. >> thanks. next political update in an hour. you can get latest political news at cnnpolitics.com.

when i use expedia, my friends at work think there's more than one "me." ...because on our trips, i always get there faster. see, expedia lets me mix and match airlines. so i can take one airline out... and another home. so with more flight options, i can find the combination that gets me there and back quickest. with a little help from expedia, my friends will think i can be everywhere at once. where you book matters. expedia. ♪ now the healing power of touch just got more powerful. introducing precise from the makers of tylenol. precise pain relieving heat patch activates sensory receptors. it helps block pain signals for deep penetrating relief you can feel

precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol. hi. we're ready to switch our car insurance to progressive. today just seemed like a great day to save. oh, it's not just today. with our free loyalty program, you earn great stuff like accident forgiveness and bigger discounts just by staying with us. oh! ooh! so, what you're saying is, it gets even better with age. oh!

tell me we're still talking about insurance. rewarding loyalty. now, that's progressive. call or click today. keeping track of lots of developments in the next hour of cnn newsroom. let's start with ed lavendera. >> reporter: kyra, we're keeping tabs on the scandal involving bishop eddie long, with the new baptist church, one of the largest mega churches in the south, being accused of sexual abuse. i'm ted rowlands in los angeles.

the bell city leaders were arrested yesterday. these are the guys that are accused of lining their pockets with taxpayers' money. arrested yesterday. they'll be in court later today. we'll have that story coming up at the top of the hour. i'm poppy harlow in new york. americans dealing with record foreclosures but there's no evidence some of the foreclosures were pushed through without proper verification. ally bank at the center of all of it. theresa lewis scheduled to die tomorrow. the first execution of a virginia woman in nearly a century. next hour, a death penalty expert complains why she should not be put to death. you could switch for up to 600 highway miles on a single tank of gas. or the hundred-thousand mile powertrain warranty. over a thousand people a day are switching to chevy. they're not just trading in, they're trading up. qualified lessees can get low mileage lease on this 2011

malibu ls for around one ninety-nine a month. call for details. the switch to chevy starts at chevydealer.com.

you have to wonder what the vatican is thinking, and what it's going to do to prevent this nonstop stream of scandals. as if the sex scandals aren't enough, like in milwaukee where the archdiocese fired nine priests accused of sexually

abusing children, and the now dead priest who had sexual contact with students at the school for the death. a report came out a couple of weeks ago that detailed sex abuse allegations in nearly every diocese in belgium. 13 alleged victims killed themselves, and now another alleged sin that has nothing to do with sex. money laundering. the kind of crime you expect from tony sop prawn know but $30 million has been seized from the vatican bank. they didn't provide enough information about big wire transfers, and the red flags went up and those who know money laundering the best came out. >> when you get to big corporations or institutions, what they tend to do is they take money and put it into slushed funds that they hide so that the source of that money that they then spend on, say,

corruption or political influence is not directly related back to them. >> robinson says that the vatican bank is the most secret bank in the world and there's no way to know how much money it controls. the vatican, however, claims to be perplexed and baffled by that probe and says it aims for full transparency. one of the aims to the pope's trip to the uk last week was to combat aggressive secularism, and in a recent poll, it actually suggests that one out of every four german catholics is thinking about leaving the church. clearly, in europe especially, the vatican has a lot of work to do to win people's trusts back. this story isn't going to help the charge. we have been covering one vat can't crisis after another. we have the latest one. diana. >> reporter: hi. you are right. they just don't stop coming, those scandals. this one, as you said, involves

the transfer of some $30 million that the vatican bank was trying to transfer from an italian bank account to two other bank accounts across italy, and the prosecutor says it did not provide the necessary documentation to prove that those funds didn't come from money laundering. remember, the vatican is a sovereign state and isn't answerable to anybody as to how it moves the funds around. it is, therefore, not being part of that system, it is subject to must more stringent money laundering controls. the vatican says it is perplexed and baffled and fully supports its president who is under investigation and has been trying in recent years to become more transparntd because it wants to belong to the white list of the oecd and wants its banking operations to be completely transparent but it is a very, very secretive

institution and very difficult to read the vatican in terms of sex abuse and also very difficult to find out what's going on in terms of its banking activities. >> you just wonder if the scandals will cease. as a cardinal and vatican official, what did the pope know and when? cnn is taking a look at the church in a special this weekend. two chances to watch, saturday and sunday 8:00 p.m. eastern. when we first saw the bell, california story, we knew it was a time bomb about trod blow. boy, did it blow. first, the protests in the street, resignations and investigations, now, arrests, charges and mug shots. eight current or former town officials booked in l.a. county jail on charges of misusing about $5.5 million of public funds. there's their faces. all money provided by the

working class people paying a curiously high tax writ. one of those jailed, the former city manager, robert rizzo, a guy who was making nearly $800,000 managing a tiny town with a median household income of 40 grand per year. his assistant also arrested as well as the mayor and several ski council membering making about 100 grand for part-time work. the bell 8 go to court today to make their pleas. cnn's been all over this story and now the story of alleged government corruption has grown well beyond bell's 2.5 square miles. ted rowlands has the latest. >> reporter: people around the country were shocked when they heard what these people were making governing this small town of 40,000 just outside los angeles. yesterday they were in handcuffs. this morning they are in jail. >> i am the happiest person in

bell today! >> reporter: after months of anger and frustration, they're celebrating in bell, california. this is what many here say they've been waiting to see, the former city manager, robert rizzo in handcuffs. >> i was waiting for today so i could go in and celebrate together with everybody. >> reporter: a 53-count indictment accuses him of stealing $5.5 million from bell taxpayers by inflating his salary along with those of other current or former city officials. >> they used the tax dollars collected from the hard-working citizens of bell as their own piggy bank. >> reporter: rizzo's attorney says his client will fight the charges and his salary was openly transparent and approved by the city council. people were shocked when they found out what rizzo and the others in bell were paying themselves, but we found other public servants around the state

who were also getting huge paychecks. in the city of vernon, a legal consultant made $1.5 million last year and the city manager made 785,000. the attorney general has launched an investigation in vernon. up north in the city of san ramon, the city manager there is making 359,000, and a hospital administrator in fremont paid 876,000 in 2008. but getting paid a lot isn't against the law. in fact, the former police chief in bell, randy adams, who mads 450,000 wasn't arrested along with the others because, prosecutors say, he didn't try to hide his salary. >> it's not illegal in the state of california, especially in a charter city for people to get paid ridiculous sums of money, but if you contract or set it up so you receive that in secret or without following the appropriate process, that's the crime.

>> reporter: people in bell say they are also partly to blame for what happened here. >> if i were people in other cities, i would be looking at their city councils, you know. don't go to sleep and think that everybody's going to take care of you. no, they aren't. >> reporter: and, kyra, mr. rizzo and the others are waking up in jail. they'll be in court later this morning in los angeles. the prosecutor is asking that a judge hold rizzo on $3.2 million on bail and if rizzo does come up with the money, they want a hearing and investigation on how he came up with the money to make sure that his bail money isn't traced back to the bell taxpayers. he may be in jail for a while. >> we have been waiting to see that mug shot for a long time. jerry brown joins us now. he's been hot on this bell story. brown is also the democratic candidate for governor. jerry, it's just amazing how hard these people allegedly

worked to keep their secret. >> yeah, well, they obviously felt guilty about it or would have been more public with it. i would say even if they didn't obscure or hide their salary process, that excessive salaries are not legal, and i'm suing for civil fraud based on a waste of taxpayers' funds, and based on the breach of fiduciary duty that each public official owes to the public, and, finally, the charter of this particular city and i think a lot of others, specifies that a salary must be commensurate with the worth or the dues to perform -- to be performed. if you are making 800,000, twice what the president does, for a little town like bell, that to me is prime matsch sha evidence that you have ripped off the city, violated the chaerer, and therefore, the state of california and as attorney

general my suit seeks to recover that money, block the pension payments that might be coming down the road and make sure that the citizens of bell pay no more than is legally permissible. >> will the people of bell get more money back because they have been told they're going to get a couple hundred dollars back and we're talking about millions of dollars that have been swindled by these people. >> if they're swindled, we're getting it back if we can find the money or the assets. what has to be proven in court to our lawsuit is that through expert testimony we show there is not a rational basis for the salaries that were paid, and i think you can do that. and then looking to other cities, when they are excessive at some point it's obvious that they have cheated what the law envisions. this is breaking some unusual ground here when it comes to the lawsuit, but it's solid. it's sound.

you can't waste public funds, and the question is at what point do you go from what is permissible to what is impermissible and that's what we have to prove in court. we are also looking at other cities. >> that's my next question, vernon, fremont, san ramon, a few places ted rowlands pointed out. how are you going after these other cities that are coming up with extraordinary salaries? >> well, nothing quite like bell and maybe vernon, might be a few others. i want to not just stop at going after a few cities where the excess is crystal clear. i want to go further and identify places that deviate from the norm, deviate from what, you know, is just common sense, and i want to do that because i am proposing and constitutional amendment to take the existing salary commission that is empowered to raise or lower the salaries of the governor, the attorney general

and the legislators, and give that salary commission the power to do the same thing for local officials. and if we had that, then we'd have a salary segt or a maximum salary setting authority that could stop excesses that might pass through the needle of the law. it the could be stopped by a commission. >> what's going to be the number, jerry? as you start looking at other city managers, how much do they have to be making for you to investigate? >> well, i just set the number at 300,000. that's a number that we took as a starting point, and we want to look at it. we want to say, okay, you're making 325,000, how big is your city, what do you do, and what do people make in surrounding cities, and what's the basis of this? we start with the fact that the governor makes a little more than $200,000. that's what he makes. the president makes 400,000.

what are you doing that's ewere equivalent or greater than that? i think we are going to find things that are not justified. they may be able to defend themselves against a civil lawsuit, but i don't think the legislators will want to prevent the creation of a salary commission with the authority to set new rules on what is reasonable and rules that will set a lower standard. because why do we pay a superintendent of a school district 325,000 and we're paying the governor, i think, 212,000? it doesn't make sense. >> we will stay on the story, and it's great to see you doing something about this and holding people accountable. thank you very much. up next, the pastor of a mega church faces allegations of sexual misconduct and they come from two men who say bishop eddie long betrayed their trust. . . [ female announcer ] chef michael's canine creations. chef inspired. dog desired.

you struggle to control your blood sugar. you exercise and eat right, but your blood sugar may still be high, and you need extra help. ask your doctor about onglyza, a once daily medicine used with diet and exercise to control high blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. adding onglyza to your current oral medicine may help reduce after meal blood sugar spikes and may help reduce high morning blood sugar. [ male announcer ] onglyza should not be used to treat type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. tell your doctor if you have a history or risk of diabetic ketoacidosis. onglyza has not been studied with insulin. using onglyza with medicines such as sulfonylureas may cause low blood sugar. some symptoms of low blood sugar are shaking, sweating and rapid heartbeat. call your doctor if you have an allergic reaction like rash, hives or swelling of the face, mouth or throat. ask your doctor if you also take a tzd as swelling in the hands, feet or ankles may worsen. blood tests will check for kidney problems.

you may need a lower dose of onglyza if your kidneys are not working well or if you take certain medicines. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor about adding onglyza. extra help. extra control. you may be eligible to pay $10 a month with the onglyza value card program. we could've gone a more traditional route... ... but it wouldn't have been nearly as memorable. ♪ save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance?really was abe lincoln honest? mary: does this dress make my backside look big? abe: perhaps...

save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance?really host: is having a snowball fight with pitching great randy johnson a bad idea? man: yeah, i'm thinking maybe this was a bad idea. bishop eddie long leads one of the largest churches in the country but today is accused of

betraying the trust of those who follow him. two men filed lawsuits saying he coerced them into sexual relationships when they were teens. the slams are in shocking contrast to his public image. he passionately crusades against homosexuality. long's success is undeniable. two decades after taking over a small church, his members exceed 25,000. he spoke to our john roberts last hour on cnn's "american morning." >> this is actually john a case of retaliation and a case of shakedown for money by men with serious credibility issues. this is something that went from 48 hours in contact with the attorney to outrageous demands to this dog and pony show we are seeing that began yesterday. >> ed lavendera is here

investigating the story. >> this a story that will continue to develop here. there is great question about what kind of fallout this will have for bishop eddie long and his church, new birth missionary church. >> angels were flying around my bed all night all day! >> reporter: bishop eddie long's fiery sermons have made him a revered evangelical pastor. he's the bishop of the new birth missionary church near atlanta. >> he offers himself up as a man's man, a quintessential man, a successful businessman, a successful preacher. he has a beautiful family. he drives a fancy car. he wears custom tailored clothes, and in some ways sh would argue he's the man all women want and all men are supposed to aspire to be. >> reporter: two young men, former church members, say

bishop long used his spiritual walt to get them into sexual relationships. they say they met him through the bish shops's longfellow academy. >> he would use biblical stories to talk about how important it was to follow your leader and your master, and let him know that the acts that he was engaged in were not necessarily meaning that he was a homosexual. >> reporter: bishop long's spokesman denies the allegations, and the young men allege he made them his spiritual partners in a covenant. >> it was a marriage ceremony, candles, exchange of jewelry, and biblical quotes given in order for anthony to know and the bishop to tell him, i will always have your back and you

will always have mine. >> in the name of jesus! >> reporter: eddie long built a spiritual empire by sheer force of personality. there were 400 members 20 years ago and today it has more than 25,000 members. when coretta scott king died, her funeral was held in his church. as his prestige has grown, so has his conservative voice. he once led an anti-gay marriage march through atlanta. >> we're not marching against folk. we are marching for folk, and if they don't understand it now, they'll understand it better as the old preacher says, by and by. >> reporter: he often refers to himself as god's scarred leader. those who followed his career say bishop long has never shied away from talking about his own personal struggles and faults. that's made him even big than

life to his spiritual flock. getting back to the spokesperson talking about the accusations. one of the interesting twists to the story is back in june there was a break-in in eddie long's office at new birth church. $100,000 in jewelry was stolen. one of the people arrested is maurice robinson, one of those making the accusations. they are saying this young man was going after money. what you hear his attorney saying is at the time this was when he was finding out object the other relationships going on between eddie long and some others and this was his way of lashing out. obviously people have to make up their own minds but that's what we hear now. >> we are hearing more young men will come forward and file as well. new twist in the foreclosure crisis could mean a break for thousands of home owners and a big headache for some of the nation's largest lenders.

[ male announcer ] ever have morning pain slow you down? ♪ introducing bayer am, an extra strength pain reliever with alertness aid, specially formulated to fight morning pain and fatigue. ♪ so get up and get goin'! with new bayer am. the morning pain reliever. this site has a should i try priceline instead? >> no it's a sale. nothing beats a sale! wrong move! you. you can save up to half off that sale when you name your own price on priceline. but this one's a deal...trust me. it's only pretending to be a deal. here, bid $79. got it. wow! you win this time good twin! there's no disguising the real deal.

into revolutionary performance. one word makes the difference between defining the mission and accomplishing the mission. one word makes the difference in defending our nation and the cause of freedom. how... is the word that makes all the difference. well, finally a big break for hundreds of home owners across the country, and it happened all because of one foreclosure processor. cnnmoney.com's poppy harlow joins us now from new york. tell us about this legal hiccup, shall we say? >> what we're learning is that some of the major mortgage services in this country had employees who just signed off on

foreclosure paper work without verifying it and reading through it which they are legally required to do. ally financial is the fourth biggest lender in this country. in a sworn deposition, the head of the foreclosure document team said he never checked all of the documents when he signed off on foreclosures for many, many home owners and they have suspended evictions in 23 states across the country that they say may have been affected and they're reviewing previous foreclosures and say this is not the fault of one person signing off on documents. they say this problem stemmed from an internal process, and they say, look, we've corrected it. i want to read you a statement tr ally bank. here's are what they said. they said, no evidence of any factual misstatements or inaccuracies containing the details typically contained in the affidavits such as the loan balance, its delinquency and the

accuracy of the note and the underlying transactions. they're saying it doesn't mean people who lost their homes shouldn't have. i just got off the phone with a lawyer representing the home owners in maine. he's working for free, pro bono for them. he says that's not the case and found two situations where the underlying facts are not accurate and home owners should not have been forced out of their homes. >> do you think that is a larger problem extending to other companies? >> absolutely. this lawyer said ally financial is used by hundreds of other companies to service their mortgages, including major companies like fannie mae and freddie mac. he told us the problem is widespread throughout the industry and does not just have to do with ally financial and on top of this, we have seen record foreclosures and mountains and mountains of payment work that the banks need toe sign off. we have seen 338,000 foreclosures in august alone and

we also, important to this story, saw record repossessions of homes last month. so you have other companies that may have taken shortcuts and pushing people out of their homes. right now the financial times is reporting that a jp morgan chase employee admitted to signing off on thousands of foreclosure documents without looking through them and verifying their accuracy. we called jp morgan and are waiting to hear back. it could mean putting home owners back in their homes and a major, major headache for a lot of mortgage servicing companies. genetically altered salmon. government health officials say it's safe to eat. others disagree. hear what the fda has to say now.

>> will -- a committee on homeland security is holding a hearing this hour. one of the things they're looking into is whether the department was prepared to handle a disaster of that magnitude. kevin costner proposed a 190 vessel plan to respond to future disasters in the gulf of mexico. the owner of an iowa egg farm plans to apologize to the victims of a salmonella outbreak that sickened people. he and his son will appear at a house hearing on food safety in des moines, iowa. decoster says while we believe we were doing the right thing. it's clear we have to do more. jack decoster says he prayers several times a day for the victims of that outbreak. the food and drug administration is right now

considering whether to allow genetically engineered salmon to be sold in grocery stores. the industry says the genetically altered salmon which grows twice as fast as regular salmon is safe. advocates on both sides appeared in washington. no vote was taken but an fda ipd panel thinks it needs more study. yesterday restaurant owner den nigs lang gave us a powerful look at the difference between natural and genetically altered salmon and says modified foods can appear as wholesome fruits and vegetables. after that we asked to you weigh in with your thoughts. juju says i came from africa six years ago and i can tell you i noticed a big change in the flavor of the food in the u.s. after seeing your segment, my intuitions are confirmed.

americans should demand better food. donna said i'm getting tired of our food being made into science projects? what hatched to the naurt way to do it? it's time to stop playing chemist with our food supply. ian says i don't mind but it should be labeled as such so we can make informed choices. greg says even though the natural foods are month abundant in flavor, maybe the engineered sources will be better when it comes down to food shortages in the world. a virginia woman is scheduled to be put to death tomorrow. her supporters say she's mentally challenged and shouldn't be executed but the prosecutor calls her evil. [ tires screech ] [ engine revving ] [ drums playing ] [ male announcer ] 306 horsepower.

race-inspired paddle shifters and f sport-tuned suspension. all available on the new 2011 lexus is. it isn't real performance, unless it's wielded with precision. see your lexus dealer. unless it's wielded with precision. i'm ahmed mady and i'm a homebuilder. my father brought me up to give back to society... felicia jackson promised her late sister that she would take care of her children. but she needed help. i used my american express open card to get half a million points to buy building materials

to help build the jackson family a new home. well, i know if my dad was still around, he would have told me, with no doubt... he would have told me it's a no brainer and i knew that from the start. it was an honor. booming is moving forward by giving back. sadly, no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get back to these invoices... which i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. [ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business. can be unsettling. but what if there were a different story? of one financial company that grew stronger through the crisis. when some lost their way, this company led the way.

by protecting clients and turning uncertainty into confidence. what if that story were true? it is. ♪ personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke.

more than 3200 pinners sit on death row waiting for or fighting their executions. just 53 of them are women and one is scheduled to, executed tomorrow night. short of some 11th hour stay that doesn't appear possible, theresa lewis will die by injection at the greensville correctional center in virginia. she was convicted in the 2002 murder for hire deaths of her husband and stepson, and now it seems she's less than 35 hours to live. the state of virginia hasn't executed a woman since 1912. this case has garnered international attention. thousands of people have petitioned the governor to say she doesn't deserve to die because she was manipulated by someone with a higher i.q. prosecutors say she master minded.murders. >> reporter: from virginia's death row, theresa lewis sings

for define intervention. ♪ i need a miracle >> reporter: but no miracles come her way. the virginia governor refuses to issue a stay of execution. the supreme court denies her appeal. on thursday, theresa lewis will likely become the first woman put to death in virginia in nearly a septemberry. i spoke to her before the governor's ruling. because of the sensitivity of the case, the questions are limbed to a couple of predetermined questions and we are not allowed to bring cameras into the facility where she is held. so we are speaking to her on the phone from her unit in death row in virginia. if you could say anything, what would you tell him? >> i would would tell the governor if i speak to him one on one, i'm sorry. i really am. two people i loved very much, and i just wish i could take it back and i'm sorry for all the people that i've hurt in the process. >> reporter: lewis pleaded guilty in the 2002 murders of

her husband julian lewis an her stepson c.j. in their mobile home in virginia. this was a crime of conspiracy. lewis didn't fire the shots. the two men who did only got life sentences. the judge called theresa lewis the head of this serpent but her attorneys say her i.q. is in the low 70s, and she has dependent personality disorder, making her vel neshl to coercion by others. is it your coercion in this crime? >>yes. shallen berger and the experts have stated that she was being used by shallenberger, not the other way around. >> reporter: shallenberger had an affair before the killings. they have letters saying the only reason he sleft with lewis was so she would give me the

insurance money she inherited after the murders. he later committed suicide in prison. on the idea that lewis was manipulated, the pror says this? >> i say theresa lewis is as evil a person as i ever met. >> reporter: he says his investigation showed she took an active role in the plot and manipulated everyone from her husband to her lover to her children and tests his side conducted contradicted those that indicate she is near retardation. >> her functioning ability is way beyond that. >> reporter: you think she was faking? >> she wasn't, as one of the experts said in a previous hearing, she wasn't motivated to score accurately and i on the tests. >> reporter: lewis says the contention that she's faking a low i.q. is silly, and one expert tested to see if she was faking that and found she wasn't. >> brian todd joins now live. she took classes past high school, right? >> reporter: she did. she completed a program at a

community college to become a certified nursing assistant, kyra, and held several jobs before the murders but her attorneys say all that certification was to change bed pans and sheets. her attorney said she was addicted to prescription drugs at the time of the murder and making that case as well. >> richard dieter is the executive director of a center. we heard the supreme court is not stepping in and the governor won't spare her life, either. in a statement he says lewis does not deny she committed the crimes after numerous eval weighings no medical professional says she meets the level of mentally retarded. i see no reason to set aside the monies opposed by the circuit court. how do you respond to that?

>> the death penalty is supposed to be for the worst of the worst offenders. she's guilty but very close to being mentally retarded. she was not the shooter or the organizer of this crime, and so she should spend the rest of her life in prison, not be executed. >> it's interesting to see all of the people who are weighing in on this, even novelist john grisham wrote an op ed piece in the washington post earlier this month. he's on your side, arguing against it. he paints her as a woman manipulated by matthew shallenberger, her lever. he was nothing more than a common thug but his dream was to become a hit man, mafia style and saw this as nothing more than an opportunity to build his resumé. do you agree with this? >> i think this execution shocks the conscience of this country. why are we doing this?

a principal criteria is whether or not you are a serious danger to society. theresa lewis in prison is not a danger. she's been nothing but helpful to fellow prisoners. she needs to be punished and kept in prison. the death beenality is for extreme cases. this is not her participation, her level of culpability and understanding. she doesn't fit this. this deem nonization of her as a serpent and evil is a gross mischaracterization. >> would we be having this debate if she were a man? there have been a number of articles and people who came out and said this is all about -- not all about but very much about gender. >> i don't think this case would attract as much attention. i think if she had gone before a jury and if her lawyers recommended that instead of pleading guilty and going from a judge for sentencing, she wouldn't have been given the den

penalty in virginia and would not be facing execution tomorrow. >> thank you. appreciate your time. we mentioned that theresa lewis is scheduled to be the first woman executed in virginia in nearly a century. it got us curious who came before her. it was this woman, a 17-year-old maid named virginia christian. she was electrocuted for suffocating her employer, a 72-year-old woman who apparently accused her of stealing a locket. it's one thing to evict a tenant but what if that's a hoarder with mountains of stuff like stereo equipment out of the '70s. it's a problem for an entire neighborhood as you can see by these live pictures. [ female announcer ] any hair shines in the spotlight.

aveeno hair shines in real life. new aveeno nourish plus shine with active naturals wheat smooths damaged cuticles for 75% more shine in one use. real shine, for real life. yours. thanks. i got the idea from general mills big g cereals. they put a white check on the top of every box to let people know that their cereals have healthy whole grain, and they're the right choice... (announcer) general mills makes getting whole grain an easy choice. just look for the white check. well, you might be a fan of one of those hoarder shows on cable where people get help for their compulsion to keep everything, but we found one who

needs help now. hardly any time for an intervention. he landlord kicked her out and all of her stuff. years and years worth of stuff that have actually buried a street in d.c. courtney robinson is with our affiliate wjal to tell us more about this story. what's the deal? >> reporter: kyra, it's a massive amount of stuff. it stretches down 11th street for about four blocks. you can see all of the different things she has. strollers, tvs, stereo equipment. the city came in last night, a couple of agencies, to help her out, not knowing what they were going to do today. this morning we have a moving company, a storage company and they are helping her load all of this stuff up and are almost full with this truck. this woman has lived here for about two years as we understand. according to a roommate, he says this stuff has accumulated. she already has a storage compartment that is completely

full. talking with her, she says she saves this stuff and collects it in order to send it back to her home country, venezuela, and last year she did just that, but speaking with other neighbors, they rallied around her last night but at this point say it's time for this stuff to go and for the streets to be cleaned up. >> my response to the whole thing is, c'mon, where's the trash man? this is a person that is a hoarder, and someone needs to help her get rid of it. >> it doesn't matter what people think. it's my heart and nobody. if you are working an honest wage and paying, i am happier than if i have a million dollars. >> reporter: she says that every single piece out here has some sentimental value to her, that selling it does not make sense to her. she wants to send all of this stuff back to venezuela, latin america, and we have more trucks

coming in. one person is going to hire her to take care of their grandmother but we can tell you this is not her first see vikz and she's been evicted many times before this one. this is the most extensive with the streets concerned here. d.c. did bring out social workers last night and came out today and will continue to follow up with her, kyra. >> i think that's who she needs most right now. courtney robinson, thank you very much. using taxpayer dollars as their own piggy bank, that's how the district attorney describes a salary scandal in bell, california. six officials head to court today. the owner of an iowa egg farm reportedly plans to apologize to victims for a salmonella outbreak that made scene 00 people sick. homeowners who want to challenge foreclosure proceedings may have new ammunition. a document processor at allied

financial says he signed off on foreclosures without reading the required paper work. that has put a halt to evictions in 23 states. >> let's face it. it's tough being a catholic these days, and as the faith-shaking hits keep coming, you have to wonder, cha is the vatican thinking. as if the sex scandals aren't enough, like in milwaukee where nine priests were accused of sexually abusing children, and then there's belgium, a report came out that detailed sex abuse allegations in nearly every single diocese there. 13 alleged victims killed themselves. now another alleged sin that has nothing to do with sex. money laundering. the kind of crime that you would expect from tony soprano.

they have seized $30 million from the vatican bank. it didn't provide enough information about big wire transfers, and the red flags went up and those who know money laundering the best came out. >> when you goat big corporations or institutions, what they tend to did is take money and put it into slush funds that they hide so that the source of that money that they then send on, say, corruption or political influence, is not directly related back to them. >> robinson says the vatican bank is the most secret bank in the world and there's no way to know just how much money it actually controls. the vatican claims to be perplexed and baffled by the probe and aims for full transparency. one of the aims of the pope's trip to the uk last week was to combat aggressive secularism, and in a recent poll in benedict's home country, it says

one out of every four german catholics is thinking about leaving the church. clearly, in europe especially, the vatican has a lot of work to do to win the trust back. stories about sex and money isn't going to help the cause. midterm elections are less than six weeks away, and we're bringing you the latest headlines from our political ticker. just ahead, one candidate just says no.

let's check in with stories from our best political team on television. dana bash, what's crossing? >> reporter: well, you know, lisa murkowski, the alaskan republican senator has angered

her colleagues here, kyra, because she announced she has a write-in campaign after losing the republican primary. they are going to try to hit her where it hurts and take revenge on her today. the republican caucus is going to meet this afternoon to vote likely to strip her of her post as the top republican on the energy committee. that is one of her big arguments back home in alaska that she can help the oil-rich state with this committee post. and, second on the list, kyra, sorry to break this to you, christine o'donnell, don't expect her to be on this show anytime soon or do an interinterview with me or any national media. she said last night she was going to stick to talking to delaware voters because that's the most important thing she needs to do to break conventional wisdom and potentially win against the

democrat in november. our political junkies may remember a famous moment in 1988 when bob dole accused george bush of lying about his record. we had a modern day moment last night. a massachusetts governor's debate was hosted by cnn's own john king, and tim cahill went after the republican candidate charlie baker saying he has been lying about his record in television ads. cahill is the state's treasure, and there have been ads saying he has been reckless with taxpayer money. they are trying to unseat the incumbent governor duval patrick. your next political update is in an hour. for all of the latest political news go to our website cnnpolitics.com. omg, a 13-year-old brooklyn girl is the nation's fastest texter. she won the championship in new

york. contestants accuracy, speed, dexterity all tested. brianna's fast-moving thumbs earned her 50 grand and another 50 grand for charity. she sevens about 7,000 texts a month but no worries, she has unlimited texting. a fan steps out, and jeanne moos steps in. next stop, sports hall of shame. ♪ feed the senses. the most powerful half-ton crew in america has a powertrain backed for 100,000 miles. chevy silverado half-ton a consumers digest best buy and the most dependable, longest-lasting full-size pickups on the road. now get 0% apr for 72 months on 2010 silverado half-ton models

with an average finance savings around $5,600.

introducing total plus omega-3 honey almond flax cereal. all the nutrition of total, plus 10% daily value omega-3 ala, and a delicious honey almond crunch. new total plus omega-3.

♪ i never thought this would be the way you'd come back home ♪ well, we made a commitment on this show to honor our fallen in iraq and afghanistan every day. it's our daily tribute called home and away. we want to lift up correspondent jonathan daniel porto, died in afghanistan in march. his mom told us he loved being a marine and even thought boot camp should have been harder and planned on making marines his career by becoming a drill instructor or weapons instructor. he loved his family and was so excited about being a dad.

his daughter was born two months before he died. he never got to meet her but his mom says she'll get to know him through all of the stories the family will tell her. if you have a loved one you would like us to honor, go to cnn.com/homeandaway, pull up the profile, send us your thoughts and pictures and we promise to keep the memory of your hero alive. ♪ soldier on ♪ i thought it was over here... ♪ [car horn honks] our outback always gets us there... ... sometimes it just takes us a little longer to get back. ♪

i but i justve my 5 employcan't afford it.ance, i have diabetes. i didn't miss a premium payment for 10 years. and i'm worried if i lose my job, i won't be able to afford insurance. when i graduated from college, i lost my health insurance. the minute i got sick, i lost my insurance. not anymore. not anymore. not anymore. america's healthcare reforms change lives for the better. to find out how it can help you, visit us at americasfairhealthcare.org it's not just fair, it's the law.

boss: and now i'll turn it over gecko: ah, t, ecko. as we all know, geico has been saving people money on rv, camper and trailer insurance... ...as well as motorcycle insurance... gecko: oh...sorry, technical difficulties. boss: uh...what about this? gecko: what's this one do? gecko: um...maybe that one. ♪ dance music boss: ok, let's keep rolling. we're on motorcycle insurance. vo: take fifteen minutes to see how much you can save on motorcycle, rv, and camper insurance.

personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal!

my money. my choice. my meineke. ♪ baby we were born to run a story about an overexcited fan who thought he was born to run. instead, he was destined to fail because a sure-footed outfielder may have made the best play of the game. you're about to see that and other nominees for the haul of shame. >> reporter: when a guy in red spandex took to the field, it took a left fielder to take him out. watch this move. atlanta's matt diaz cut to the chase with fancy foot work that earned him a standing ovation. even from rival philly fans. it could have been worse. earliyier in the season a fan got tased for running out on the

feel and managed to elude his would-be captors until he was brought down with a taser. about 30 seconds after he was tased, he was up and walking under his own power. none of them lasted as longs a drew barrymore in fever pitch. the outfielder didn't lift a finger to stop drew on her way across the field to get to her boyfriend. then there's the scourge of mascot-0-mascot violence. rufus the bobcat ran at brutus buckeye and tackled him, losing his head in the process. >> it was an adrenaline rush. >> reporter: that's the aggressor who assaulted him again in the end zone. turns out brandon hanning had been planning this for years. >> that was the whole reason i

tried out to be the months scott. >> reporter: he was fired as months scott. normally mascots do silly things like dance to lady gaga. and flirt with the ump. but it was more than a love tap seven years ago when an italian sausage got whacked with a bat by a pittsburgh player. mandy block was the sausage. >> it wasn't a big blow. >> reporter: the batter, randall simon, was fined, suspended three games and gave mandy the autographed bat. the latest trend is mascots eating people at football games and basketball games. that's the mackerel gulping down. there's a facebook page of months scotts eating people. these days the basketball court has become a food court for mascots but who knew a pretty cheerleaco